Mini-Syllabus: Writing the Forbidden

In the spirit of my new collection The Passion of Woo & Isolde (Rose Metal Press, 2017), I’m sharing material from my “Writing the Forbidden” class, of which I teach poetry, fiction, and mixed genre versions. The following “mini-syllabus” amounts to a list of some of my favorite “forbidden” books.

Writing the Forbidden

In this class you will work to produce a piece of forbidden writing. What’s forbidden to one writer may not be forbidden to another. Some feel forbidden to write about emotions (i.e. anger, happiness etc.) or circumstances (i.e. trauma, ecstasy, poverty, wealth, sexuality, aging, mental illness, family secrets etc.); some feel forbidden to write about people different than themselves; for others, certain forms are forbidden. Whatever your forbidden territory is, I encourage you to visit it with curiosity and attention. We will proceed as a group of risk-takers together, none of us traveling to precisely the same place, but all of us keeping one another company on the journey. I will emphasize intuitive methods and ask you to cleave to what makes your secret heart beat faster. Readings, prompts, and exercises will be provided. At the end of the course, you will receive a detailed, written response to your work. Everyone welcome.

Fiction

Marguerite Duras – The Lover trans. by Barbara Bray (Flamingo, 1986)

Janet Frame – “A Night at the Opera” (The New Yorker, June 2, 2008)

Garth Greenwell – What Belongs to You (FSG, 2016)

Jamaica Kincaid – Lucy (Plume, 1991)

lê thi diem thúy The Gangster We Are All Looking For (Anchor Books, 2003)

Yukio Mishima – The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea trans. by John Nathan (Knopf, 1965)

Jennifer Tseng is an award-winning poet and fiction writer. Her previous books include No so dear Jenny (Bateau Press) and Mayumi and the Sea of Happiness (Europa Editions). She teaches for the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, FAWC’s online writing program 24PearlSt, and the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing.